Clothing-manufacturing 3d printer

ABSTRACT

The disclosure relates to a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer, and the clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the disclosure includes a needle unit including a needle hook formed in an end portion and a protrusion formed in a middle region; a connector including a screw thread formed to mesh with the protrusion of the needle unit; and an actuator configured to actuate the connector to rotate, wherein the needle unit meshing with the screw thread is moved forward or backward as the connector is rotated by the actuator. Accordingly, there is provided a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer with a new actuating system.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer, and moreparticularly to a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer of which a needleunit for clothing manufacturing is moved forward and backward by asimple structure.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, a flat-knitting machine or the like knitting machine isemployed to manufacture clothing. The flat-knitting machine knits clothwith a programmed pattern while a carriage feeds a plurality of needlesarranged in a needle unit with threads by reciprocating left and rightabove the needle unit. AI principle of actuating a conventionalflat-knitting machine is as follows. The needle of the needle unit isformed with a protrusion, and the carriage is formed with a trackcorresponding to the butt on the rear thereof, so that the protrusioncan move along the track while the carriage reciprocates. With thisstructure, the needles move forward or backward as a whole, therebyperforming knitting. Such general things about the flat-knitting machinehave been disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0007693,etc.

However, a conventional knitting machine has had a problem that thecarriage needs to reciprocate between both ends of the arranged needleunit.

Further, a forward and backward moving distance of the needle unit isvaried depending on the track formed in the carriage, and thereforethere has been a problem of difficulty in freely adjusting the forwardand backward moving distance of the needle unit.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

An aspect of the disclosure is to solve such conventional problems, andprovide a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer with a new actuating system.

Another aspect of the disclosure is to provide a clothing-manufacturing3D printer in which forward and backward movement of a needle unit isfreely adjustable.

Technical Solution

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a 3Dprinter for clothing, comprising: a needle unit comprising a needle hookformed in an end portion and a protrusion formed in a middle region; aconnector comprising a screw thread formed to mesh with the protrusionof the needle unit; and an actuator configured to actuate the connectorto rotate, wherein the needle unit meshing with the screw thread ismoved forward or backward as the connector is rotated by the actuator.

Here, the connector is movable closer to or far away from the needleunit in a direction intersecting with a lengthwise direction of theneedle unit, thereby selectively transmitting or releasing an actuationforce.

The needle units are provided in plural, the connector are provided inplural, the connectors are fewer than the needle units, and theconnector selectively meshes with the but of the needle unit whilemoving in parallel with a direction where the plurality of needle unitsare arranged.

The actuator is rotatable forward and backward to generate a forward andbackward actuation force for the needle unit, and the actuator furthercomprises an encoder to adjust the number of rotations of the connector.

Advantageous Effects

According to the disclosure, there is provided a clothing-manufacturing3D printer with a new actuating system.

Further, there is provided a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer in whichforward and backward movement of a needle unit is freely adjustable.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a main configuration of aclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to a first embodiment of thedisclosure,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an actuation mechanism of theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the first embodiment ofthe disclosure,

FIG. 3 illustrates a principle of actuating a needle unit in theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the first embodiment ofthe disclosure,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a needle unit, a connector and anactuator of the clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the firstembodiment of the disclosure,

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a supporting plate of theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the first embodiment ofthe disclosure,

FIG. 6 illustrates actuation of a solenoid valve of theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the first embodiment ofthe disclosure,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an actuation mechanism of aclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to a second embodiment ofthe disclosure, and

FIG. 8 illustrates actuation of the clothing-manufacturing 3D printeraccording to the second embodiment of the disclosure.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT DISCLOSURE

Below, a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to a firstembodiment of the disclosure will be described in detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a main configuration of aclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to a first embodiment of thedisclosure, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an actuationmechanism of a needle unit and a connector. As shown therein, theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the disclosure includes aneedle unit 10, a connector 20, an actuator 30, a supporting plate 40and a solenoid valve 50.

The needle unit 10 includes a main body 11 formed long in a lengthwisedirection, a needle hook 12 formed at one end of the main body 11 andhooking a thread, a protrusion 13 formed in a certain region of the mainbody 11. The needle hook 12 has a structure by which a thread positionedin front thereof is hooked as the needle unit 10 is moved forward, andthe hooked thread is pulled backward as the needle unit 10 is movedbackward. The protrusion 13 protrudes outward from the certain region ofthe main body 11 and meshes with the connector 20. The protrusion 13 inthe drawings is formed by bending the main body 11 twice, but theprotrusion may have any structure without being bent twice as long as itprotrudes from the main body 11.

The connector 20 transmits a rotational force generated by the actuator30 to the needle unit 10 so that the needle unit 10 can move forward andbackward, and has a body formed with a screw thread 21 with which theprotrusion 13 of the needle unit 10 meshes. A width of a groove of thescrew thread 21 may be the same as or a little wider than the width ofthe protrusion 13 of the needle unit 10, so that the protrusion 13 ofthe needle unit 10 can be inserted in the groove. Therefore, as shown inFIG. 3, when the connector 20 rotates, the protrusion 13 of the needleunit 10 inserted in the groove of the screw thread 21 moves forward orbackward along the screw thread 21 while interlocking with the rotationof the connector 20. The forward or backward moving distance of theneedle unit 10 is varied depending on the number of rotations of theconnector 20.

The actuator 30 is embodied by a motor 51 that can rotate the connector20. In this embodiment, the motor is described by way of example.However, any actuator may be used as long as it can rotate the connector20. Further, the actuator 30 may include an encoder 32 to sense thenumber of rotations of the connector 20 and control the forward andbackward moving distance of the needle unit 10.

The connectors 20 may be provided fewer than the needle units 10, and beselectively in contact with the needle units 10 while the connector 20moves left and right on the plurality of needle units 10 arranged sideby side in a row, thereby transmitting an actuation force to the needleunit 10.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a needle unit, a connector and anactuator of the clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the firstembodiment of the disclosure, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing asupporting plate of the clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according tothe first embodiment of the disclosure. As shown therein, the supportingplate 40 is provided to support the connector 20 and the actuator 30.The supporting plate 40 includes a first plate 41 and a second plate 42,and the first plate 41 is mounted to a rail 43 and movable in left andright directions intersecting with a lengthwise direction of the needleunit 10. The second plate 42 is mounted to the first plate 21 andmovable up and down, and provided as many as the number of connectors 20and the number of actuators 30 to support the connector 20 and theactuator 30.

FIG. 6 illustrates actuation of a solenoid valve of theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the first embodiment ofthe disclosure. As shown therein, the solenoid valves 50 arerespectively connected to the second plates 42, so that the secondplates 42 can move up and down. Therefore, the solenoid valve 50actuates the second plate 42 to independently move up and down, so thatthe connector 20 and the needle unit 10 can mesh with or be releasedfrom each other for linking or unlinking.

From now on, the actuation of the clothing-manufacturing 3D printeraccording to the first embodiment will be described.

First, the supporting plate 40 supporting the connector 20 and theactuator 30 is moved left and right along a rail 43, and placed at aposition corresponding to the needle unit 10 to be actuated. Then, thesolenoid valve 50 actuates the second plate 42 of the supporting plate40 to move upward. As the second plate 42 moves upward, the connector 20supported on the second plate 42 also moves upward, and therefore theprotrusion 13 of the needle unit 10 is inserted in the groove of thescrew thread 21 of the connector 20.

Next, the actuator 30 actuates the connector 20 to rotate, and therotation of the connector 20 causes the protrusion 13 meshing with thescrew thread 21 to moves forward, thereby moving the needle unit 10forward. At this time, the number of rotations of the connector 20 issensed by the encoder 32, and the forward moving distance of the needleunit 10 is adjusted based on the number of rotations of the connector20.

When the needle unit 10 moves forward up to a given position, the threadis hooked to the needle hook 12 of the needle unit 10. Then the actuator30 is reversely rotated to move the needle unit 10 backward, andtherefore the thread hooked to the needle hook 12 is also movedbackward. With such an actuation mechanism, the needle unit 10 movesforward and backward to perform knitting, and the supporting plate 40reciprocates to manufacture clothing having a desired size or a desiredshape.

Below, a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to a secondembodiment of the disclosure will be described. In the followingdescription, descriptions about elements like those of the firstembodiment will be omitted. FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating anactuation mechanism of a clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according toa second embodiment of the disclosure, and FIG. 8 illustrates actuationof the clothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the secondembodiment of the disclosure. As shown therein, in theclothing-manufacturing 3D printer according to the second embodiment ofthe disclosure, the screw thread 21 formed in the connector 20 isprovided as a self-reversing screw. The self-reversing screw refers to ascrew of which screw threads are not formed only in one direction butformed to intersect so that an object moving along the screw can move ina reverse direction to a previous moving direction when the objectreaches a certain position.

When the thread is hooked to the needle hook 12 of the needle unit 10 asthe needle unit 10 moves forward up to the given position, theprotrusion of the needle unit 10 is placed at a position where directionswitching of the self-reversing screw is possible, and the needle unit10 is moved backward even though the actuator 30 rotates in the samedirection. At this time, the thread hooked to the needle hook 12 is alsomoved backward. With such an actuation mechanism, the needle unit 10moves forward and backward to perform knitting, and the supporting plate40 reciprocates to manufacture clothing having a desired size or adesired shape.

The scope of the disclosure is not limited to the foregoing embodiments,but may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appendedclaims. The scope of the claims appended in the disclosure falls withinvarious scopes in which any changes can be made by a person havingordinary knowledge in the art to which the disclosure pertains, withoutdeparting from the gist of the disclosure defined in the claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

There is provided a 3D printer for clothing, which includes a needleunit formed with a needle hook in an end portion and a protrusion in amiddle region, a connector formed with a screw thread to mesh with theprotrusion of the needle unit, and an actuator actuating the connectorto rotate, wherein the needle unit meshing with the screw thread ismoved forward or backward as the connector is rotated by the actuator.

1. A 3D printer for clothing, comprising: a needle unit comprising aneedle hook formed in an end portion and a protrusion formed in a middleregion; a connector comprising a screw thread formed to mesh with theprotrusion of the needle unit; and an actuator configured to actuate theconnector to rotate, wherein the needle unit meshing with the screwthread is moved forward or backward as the connector is rotated by theactuator.
 2. The 3D printer for clothing according to claim 1, whereinthe connector is movable closer to or far away from the needle unit in adirection intersecting with a lengthwise direction of the needle unit.3. The 3D printer for clothing according to claim 1, wherein the needleunits are provided in plural and arranged side by side.
 4. The 3Dprinter for clothing according to claim 3, wherein the connectors areprovided in plural and arranged side by side.
 5. The 3D printer forclothing according to claim 4, wherein the connectors are fewer than theneedle units, and the connector selectively meshes with the but of theneedle unit while moving in parallel with an direction where theplurality of needle units are arranged.
 6. The 3D printer for clothingaccording to claim 1, wherein the actuator is rotatable forward andbackward.
 7. The 3D printer for clothing according to claim 1, whereinthe actuator further comprises an encoder.
 8. The 3D printer forclothing according to claim 2, wherein the connector is moved by asolenoid valve.
 9. The 3D printer for clothing according to claim 8,wherein the connectors and the solenoid valves are provided in plural,and the solenoid valves individually move the connectors.
 10. The 3Dprinter for clothing according to claim 1, wherein the screw thread ofthe connector is provided as a self-reversing screw.
 11. The 3D printerfor clothing according to claim 2, wherein the needle units are providedin plural and arranged side by side.